Borderlands 4 CEO Downplays PC Issues

Randy Pitchford Claims Complaints Are Less Than 1% of 1%

Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software, has responded to criticism surrounding Borderlands 4’s performance issues after its September 11, 2025 release on Steam. The game launched to a Mostly Negative rating due to low FPS, stuttering, and long load times. However, Pitchford argued on X that actual technical complaints represent only 0.04% of total players, far below what online discussions suggest.

According to Pitchford, Borderlands 4 has been installed around one million times. Of that base, only 1% or roughly 10,000 players filed any customer service tickets, and just 0.04% reported performance issues specifically. Gearbox claims verified issues accounted for only 0.009% of players and most were resolved with recommended graphic settings adjustments, leaving fewer than 0.01% facing unresolved problems.

He criticized what he described as exaggerated online narratives, noting that most players leave negative Steam reviews rather than submitting official support tickets. At launch, Borderlands 4 sat at a Mostly Negative review rating driven by complaints about long loading screens and unstable frame rates, later improving to Mixed at 65%.

Even so, Pitchford’s defense has sparked further backlash. Many players argue that few people ever report problems directly to studios, especially when issues involve optimization tied to Unreal Engine 5 and Denuvo DRM. Negative reviews describe poor performance even on powerful GPUs like the RTX 5090 and RX 6900 XT, with some users unable to maintain 30 to 60 FPS on low settings.

Gearbox has since deployed a Day 1 patch and released a tuning guide for Nvidia cards, urging players to test performance again after adjusting their settings. Pitchford previously warned that older hardware may struggle to run the game smoothly, but the fact that even high-end machines face problems has only fueled frustration.

Ultimately, Pitchford’s attempt to downplay the scale of complaints may have worsened the controversy. His frequent and sometimes provocative tweets, including calling Borderlands 4 a premium game for premium players, continue to create PR challenges for Gearbox. Still, the studio maintains it is committed to rolling out patches and optimizations to improve performance for all players moving forward.

SOURCE pcgamer